April 12, 2004 — In addition to this week's NewsBreaks article and the monthly NewsLink Spotlight, Information Today, Inc. (ITI) offers Weekly News Digests that feature recent product news and company announcements. Watch for additional coverage to appear in the next print issue of Information Today. For other up-to-the-minute news, check out ITIís Twitter account: @ITINewsBreaks.

The Thomson Corp. and privately held TradeWeb Group, LLC announced that they have signed a definitive agreement under which Thomson will acquire TradeWeb, an online global trading platform for fixed-income securities. Thomson will purchase TradeWeb for $385 million in cash plus contingent payments of up to approximately $150 million over the next 3 years based on the achievement of growth targets. The transaction is expected to close later this quarter.

Through Thomson ONE Yield, Thomson Financial currently offers a suite of pre-trade analytical capabilities to the fixed-income marketplace. With Thomson ONE Yield integrated into TradeWeb's real-time trading platform, Thomson will be able to offer dealers and buy-side traders an electronic trading solution, from pre-trade analytics to post-trade confirmation.

Source: The Thomson Corporation

SilkRoad Announces Eprise 2004

SilkRoad technology, Inc. (http://www.silkroadtech.com) announced Eprise 2004, an enhanced version of the content management system built on the existing Eprise platform. Eprise 2004 adds a number of features that make it easy for non-technical business users to create, manage, deploy, and update content-driven Web sites.

Through SilkRoad ReadyEdit, Eprise 2004 allows business users to click into a Web page, edit text, and publish content without ever having to enter into a separate editing window or application. Through SilkRoad NetAnswer, Eprise 2004 provides a complete analytics package that provides an intelligent feedback loop to help understand if Web sites are meeting overall business goals. Eprise 2004 also introduces expanded support for Web Services standards both exposing and consuming remote applications. By exposing Eprise functions, business users can contribute, manage, and publish assets in the context of other Web applications.

SilkRoad was founded by Andrew "Flip" Filipowski, the former CEO of Divine, Inc., which had owned the Eprise technology before its bankruptcy.

Source: SilkRoad technology, Inc.

West Legal Directory Added to Microsoft Office 2003

FindLaw has added the West Legal Directory to Microsoft Office 2003 Editions. The searchable directory of lawyers and law firms is accessible from the Research Task Pane within Microsoft Office applications. Microsoft Office 2003 users can install the West Legal Directory quickly and easily by following the instructions at http://findlaw.com/services/msoffice/.

This feature allows customers to search for information and incorporate it into their work directly from applications, such as Microsoft Office Excel 2003, Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003, Microsoft Office Publisher 2003, and Microsoft Office Word 2003. As a result, Office 2003 users can have immediate, desktop access to contact information for more than one million attorneys and law firms listed in the West Legal Directory, easily searchable by practice area and by jurisdiction.

The West Legal Directory, which already is integrated into hundreds of local and national news and information Web sites, also powers the Lawyer Directory at FindLaw.com. FindLaw, a business within The Thomson Corp., provides client development services to the legal profession.